Norman Tebbit Is Worried About Transsexual Muslim Airline Pilots

Lord Norman Tebbit, the former chairman of the Conservative Party, speaks in the The Telegraph debate at the Royal bath hotel in Bournemouth, on the second day of the Tory conference in Bournemouth.

Norman Tebbit is worried about transsexual Muslim airline pilots taking the jobs that should, on merit, go to non-transexual Muslims.

Writing on his Daily Telegraph blog on Wednesday, the former Conservative cabinet minister said attacked the "insane dictum" that parliament and the senior ranks of the civil service should be "representative of the community it serves".

Try putting that into practice elsewhere. Who would feel safer if just before take-off the pilot of the airliner told the passengers that she had been promoted to command because they needed more transsexual Muslim captains to meet the airline's inclusivity target?

The senior ranks of the civil service, flight deck crews, surgeons, or any job should be comprised of the best candidates regardless of sexual orientation, gender, ethnic origin or religion.

Tebbit's comments come amid concerns that there are not enough women or people from ethnic minorities serving in the Commons. Out of 650 MPs only 147 are women. At the 2010 election there were 27 MPs from an ethnic minority were elected.

Earlier this week one Asian Conservative Party parliamentary candidate warned that the party was still seen as a "racist party" by a large number ethnic minority voters.